Nov 12, 2008 7:51 pm US/Eastern
Willets Point Makeover Has Locals Crying Foul
Small Business Owners Say City Councilman Made Sweetheart Deal With Mayor And Then Sold Them All Out
QUEENS (CBS) ―
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City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens (file)
CBS
Willets Point, Queens is about to get a complete overhaul.
But a group claiming to represent 250 small businesses says the city councilman who traded affordable housing in exchange for the overhaul sold them out in the process.
The same bus was used to get out the vote for Barack Obama and for Councilman Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, but that bus is now being used by the small businesses of Willets Point to denounce Monserrate because they said by supporting Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to kick them out of Willets Point -- he is turning his back on 1,700 workers and their families.
"The city never cared about us, so we need to work," said auto repair business owner Julia Sandoval said. "We need to stay there because we need the work to support our families."
Monserrate stood with the mayor Wednesday to announce their new agreement.
"This plan provides, not only for affordable housing, but it is the most affordable housing project in the city of New York," Monserrate said.
The Willets Point scrap metal/chop shop/auto body area is in the shadow of the new ballpark the Mets are building. And it's no coincidence that after decades of neglect, businesses and apartments will suddenly be built there. But the Willets Point group said the trade off Monserrate negotiated in getting 35 percent of the 5,500 homes for affordable housing does not help them. And the $3 million these 250 small businesses are being offered to divide among themselves in exchange for getting out --- they say is an insult.
"That is not even enough to pay … to do down payment for the rent in another place," auto upholstery business owner Arturo Olaya said. "How we gonna move the business?"
The mayor says Willets Point is an eyesore, long overdue for an overhaul. But in this economy, what happens to 1,700 families who needed even these businesses?
The community group "ACORN" has endorsed Councilman Monserrate's deal with the mayor for affordable housing in Willets Point.
But the 10 largest businesses there are opposed.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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